


The Alternian's Gift

by ticktockGlitchout



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, Homestuck
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-07-12
Updated: 2012-11-05
Packaged: 2017-11-09 19:30:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/457539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ticktockGlitchout/pseuds/ticktockGlitchout
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Four dweeby kids who can turn into animals up against an entire race of soul-suckingly evil aliens. No pressure."</p><p>(An unapologetic Animorphs/Homestuck crossover.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In typical Animorphs fashion, you won't really need to have read the books to understand what's going on here! There'll be little recaps of terminology and whatnot to explain what'd otherwise be confusing shit to non-Aninerds.

My name is John. Or maybe it isn't. There are some things I have to keep from you. My real name is one of them, unfortunately. Where I live is another.

If I told you everything openly the way I wish I could, I would be jeopardizing my own life and the lives of countless other people- some who I know, and some who I'll never meet.

There are so, so many things I can't tell you. But, luckily, there are many things I can. And, not so luckily, there are a few things I absolutely need to.

The first is that we are not alone in this universe. There are others. Other rational, walking, talking species. 

I've met a few of them personally. The Alternians. The Yeerks. The Hork-Bajir, Taxxons, Gedds, Chee, and Cherubs...

They think and they war, and whether we are aware of it or not they form alliances for us and against us. 

That's right. Just like in the movies, some of them are friendly and some not so much. The Alternians and Yeerks in particular are warring races. But if I'm being frank here, the Yeerks are the only ones we really need to worry about.

Technically speaking, of course.

The second thing I need to tell you is that we are in danger. All of us. The Yeerks are already here. This is _not_ a drill. They live among us, a parasitic race feeding off the bodies and the memories of human beings. They capture you, crawl inside your mind, and then... that's it. You cease to exist in any real capacity.

You become a prisoner inside your own head. The next time your mouth opens, it isn't you pulling the strings. 

The final thing you should know is that we are fighting back.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't be worried. That "we" up there, after all, is referring to a handful of immature high school kids whose only real weapon is the ability to turn into animals. That bit is kind of a long story.

This whole thing is kind of a long story, honestly.

To summarize what's happened so far in a suitably blunt, rude, and Alternian manner...

"In Which An Injured Redblooded Outlaw Crash Lands On A Primitive Planet Called Earth And Bestows His Vastly Superior Race's Morphing Powers On Four (Vastly Inferior) Earthling Youths Before Being Killed In Cold Blood By His Entirely Platonic Nemesis. Amicable Adventure, Time Travel, Bloody Battles, Near Death Experiences, And Infuriatingly Stupid Human Quadrant Fillings Ensue."

Sound like fun?

I'll tell you right now, I'm not the best writer. This particular "Amicable Adventure" is one that meant a lot to all of us, and in order to do it justice I'm going to get some of my friends to step in as co-authors.

It all started at a Subway.

The restaurant, not the...

Ugh, I've already screwed this up, haven't I?


	2. Chapter 2

It was my birthday, for starters. It had been an uneventful one. I didn't even really want to celebrate...

I just wanted to get out of the house, so I called Dave.

He was the one who dragged me to Subway.

Going to Subway was always Dave's suggestion. It was kind of a dumb inside joke between me and him. At this point I barely remember how it started. Probably something to do with his web comic.

Dave and I have a lot of jokes like that. We've known each other forever. He's a smaller, slimmer guy than me. He has blonde hair- super light, almost white- and these piercing eyes of a Very Mysterious Color that I've sworn to keep on the down low. His shoulders slump a little, he's a terrible dancer, and he talks nonstop sometimes and not at all other times. Basically, he's everyone's idea of an outcast and no one's idea of a cool guy. Paradoxically, though, he's just that. He's the chillest person you'll ever meet. He can be kind of a jerk, but if I'm going to be honest (insert _truthiness_ disclaimer here), so can I. 

Subway smelled horrible ("John, come over here and inhale the sweet, sweet stonk..."), and the sandwiches were cheap and fell apart in a really unappetizing way, but we were... well, we were high school students. Super poor. I still got an allowance, but Dave's big brother stopped paying up the day Dave turned 10.

Don't even get me started on that guy.

After a few hours people-watching outside the mall's Hot Topic ("John. John. He is wearing Tripp pants. John, is that an Invader Zim hoodie? John, is this 2001?") we'd sit in the Subway nearby and just chat. You know, about simple, dumb, teenagery things. It was just the two of us, most days- unless the girls happened to drop by.

That night, they did. I'm glad. We wouldn't have them on our side now if they hadn't come to bug us.

Jade plopped down in the wobbly seat to my right, and just kind of smooshed herself into me by way of a hug. We're a lot alike. Black hair, light eyes (hers are super green, mine are blue), sandy skin, big glasses, supposedly "derpy". It's kind of unnerving, truthfully! If she didn't look so much like me, and if I didn't feel like we were related somehow, I'd probably have a thing for her. 

Rose is Jade's polar opposite, in a lot of ways. She's quiet, and reserved. She's sweet but... there's something so scary about her. She can read people like books, and if there's one thing Rose is known for, it's being an avid reader. Rose is blonde haired and pale skinned like Dave, and "light" in every way. She walks so gracefully that she makes me feel like I do it wrong. She has her darker side, I'm sure, but it really rarely makes itself known. She's got this magnetic... _thing_ about her. 

When she's an old woman, I'm pretty positive all the kids in her neighborhood will think she's a witch. She's got a black cat as a familiar and everything.

She sat down next to Dave silently and smiled at Jade's very physical show of public affection. 

"So, boys. Enjoying a nice birthday meal after a long day of mocking mall goths?"

"What, no." Dave is a lot of things. A good liar is not really one of them. "We were just getting something to eat before..."

Dave scrambled for something to say. I decided to help him out, even though watching him struggle to minimize his tiny facial contortions was really hilarious.

"...before we go over to the old factory!"

"Right. Exactly what he said, Rose," Dave deadpanned, glaring at me. You can't see his eyes while he's wearing his sunglasses, but you can feel them for sure. "John, why are we going to the old factory again?"

"Yes, John. Why?"

They both gave me _The Look_ simultaneously. Time to up the lie ante.

"Ghost hunting, duh. Have you guys ever watched Destination Truth, Jade? I think you'd like it."

"There are no ghost stories about the old factory, John..."

"I love that show! Does that make Dave the Jael to your Josh Gates?"

We bickered like idiots, Jade gave me a birthday card, and we spent a few minutes laughing and scarfing down some nasty subs mechanically. 

We must've stumbled out of the store at some point. Before I even realized it, we were standing in the middle of the ruins of the factory. Jade had her dog at her side- she'd left him tied outside the restaurant. It was pitch black, and Bec's white coat almost glowed under the moonlight. He was touchy that night, snapping his head around to stare down shadows like the place really was haunted.

The sky was cloudy. Eerie.

Something felt off.

I couldn't put my finger on what. I felt "off" pretty much every birthday night. Like something was missing. Like things were quieter than they should be. I'd go home, eat some of my dad's cake, go to sleep, and feel better in the morning.

I really wish I'd done the same that night.


	3. Chapter 3

The shadow of a small bulldozer stretched across our path, unnaturally long.

"This place really is odd at night," Rose admitted, somewhere off to my left. The clouds slipped over the moon, and we lost our only source of light.

We walked in the dark for a little bit, practically blind until our eyes adjusted. When the clouds shifted again, Bec sat down and dug himself stubbornly into the raw dirt.

"Bec...? Bec, are you alright?"

Jade talks to Bec as if he's a human. It's one of the most endearing things about her. She dropped the leash to the ground, and reached out to pet his neck. "If you want to turn back-"

Bec growled at her, and made a sudden wild dash away from us.

We were completely stunned.

Jade was the first to react. She broke out into a run and started calling his name. As soon as our brains caught up with us, we took off after them.

"Bec! Becquerel! Bec, it's okay, boy! Good dog..."

"I think he's over behind that wall," Dave said, a little warily. 

The wall was huge- it looked like it must've been two entire stories of the building. It crumbled haphazardly into the ground. We split up and each ran around one side of it, hoping to cut Bec off before he could run into the woods nearby...

Bec was in sight, Jade was leaning down and cooing with relief, Dave had stopped running, Rose was catching up-

And then the sky lit up.

Bec pressed himself against Jade's legs and whimpered.

Something was speeding towards us, flaming and billowing smoke. It looked almost like an airplane, except the smooth, metallic wings were each curved in opposite directions- like a 6 and a 9. It was small, stunted looking, and entirely deep, sharkskin gray.

"What...in the fuck," Dave stuttered, "is that?"

It was more disbelief than lack of knowledge that made him ask. It was obvious what it was.

We'd come for ghosts, and found a UFO.

My body came back to life. I took control as best as I could, pushing the girls in one direction and tugging Dave in another. A huge _CRASH!_ , a long, screeching, dragging of metal and...

We were peering around bricks and pipes, staring down the front of an alien spaceship.

Everything was quiet except for the crackle and pop of the fire brewing in the ship's tail.

Along the front of the craft, a wall shuddered and collapsed. I thought it was about to implode. Slowly, slowly, the wall folded in on itself, and I realized it was a door.

A light inside flashed like a strobe. There was liquid on the floor of the ship, both wet and dry. Yellow, green, and copper. Some bright red seeped into our frame of view, and we caught sight of our first alien.

Blood. It must've been blood. It poured out of his body- a body that wasn't unlike mine or yours. He stumbled forward onto his stomach, and I felt an overwhelming, gutwrenching sense of pure pity touch my mind.

He was a humanoid, and he looked to be... maybe 30 years old. If he had been a human, that is. He had long, willowy limbs, and a shock of pitch black hair.

Poking out of it was a set of short, stubby horns. Bright orange.

His skin was gray. Almost black in places.

A sort of ramp glitched jerkily out of the ship's door. He began to crawl.

I could feel his pain tearing into my mind.

"No," I exclaimed. "Please. Please stop moving, _it's over_."

For a moment, I had no idea what I was talking about. I was acting completely on instinct. He paused, and raised his head. His eyes met mine. 

Dave inhaled sharply next to me, and I could see Jade and Rose clutching hands in my peripheral. The alien's eyes were almost human. They were expressive. 

They were also bright, bright red.

"Are... are you okay?" Dave asked. "C-can we help you?"

The alien raised his torso a bit off the ground, and opened his mouth to speak. Something black and red sputtered out. He grasped his throat and gurgled. I felt a tugging inside my own head.

<Human Prince, can you hear me?>

I jumped before answering. "Is that you? Are you talking to us through..."

<Through thoughts. Yes. You can't speak like this, I suppose. Not yet, anyw-> The alien's body convulsed in front of us. <...anyway. You can't...>

"No, we can't, but can we... can we help you somehow?"

He looked me in the face again, and his eyes glazed over a little either in thought or in pain. He seemed to make a decision. <Come here.>

I was afraid. The others would probably say I didn't look it. I walked straight up to him, and crouched. I braced myself on the ramp as he "spoke".

<You can all hear me? Your planet... your planet is in danger. I am an Alternian. There are others coming. Like me, but very much not. They are parasites- Yeerks. They slither inside your mindpa- your... your brain, and they take control. They will kill you all in the end...unless...>

The others shifted next to me. Rose was the first to speak.

"What do you need us to do?"

The alien smiled slightly. <Inside my cloak, there is a cube. Touch it. It will give you the power to fight back.>

I did as he said. As I shuffled through his clothing, I could feel his warm blood seeping through.

The cube pulsed in my hand. Blue and white. It was glowing, buzzing.

<Each of you touch it. Straight away. There is no time...>

Jade did. Then Rose. Dave put his hand to it last, eyeing the alien hesitantly. 

<When the process is done, you will be able to acquire the DNA of any species you touch. You can become a meowbeast, a hoofbeast...> He was speaking nostalgically, almost happily, but still seemed to sense our confusion. <Any animal you want to become, you can become. Just touch it. Become it. Fight back.>

The buzz and glow continued.

"Will you... be around? To guide us?" Jade was speaking timidly, but seriously.

<...no. I am dying. It is alright. You will learn on your own.>

He jerked his head towards the sky.

"What's happening?"

There was a ridiculously bright, neon green flash of light. Like lightning on steroids. Then crackling, popping, hisses. Imagine IMAX theater static. We froze, the 4 of us. Bec yelped off in the darkness behind us, below all the thunderous noise, and scampered away to hide.

<Children...she's already here.>


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the feedback- I hope you guys continue to enjoy. Writing this has been a huge nostalgia bomb for me.

The new ship was red like his eyes, and sharp on all sides. It looked more like a fork than like a saucer. It was certainly nothing Earth had ever seen before. One side of it, the side approaching, was a gigantic, intimidating trident pointed straight at us. 

The sides of the ship throbbed and pulsed.  I could see dark, purple veins emerging. They must've been the inner workings of the ship, exposed by battle. They were broken in places, sputtering a slimy mustard yellow. They curled and uncurled as if something was controlling them, or as if they had a mind of their own.

It was menacing. Disgusting. I could feel hatred radiating off of the alien's body as he watched the thing descend. 

<When I tell you to run, you need to run. Go wherever is safest. If you have guardians... _avoid them_. >

His thoughts were getting quicker, rushed. More urgent than before.

He was obviously trying to cram as much information as possible into our heads with the time he had left.

<Never, ever stay in the form of another creature for longer than 2 of your hours. If you do, you will be stuck like that forever. You'll never be able to return to your natural body, and you'll never be able to morph again.>

The hideous pulsating ship stabilized a few inches above the ground.

The fear in the air was tangible. Rose, generally the most composed of our group, looked like she was about to puke. 

<...you've already proven yourselves more worthy of this power than every race who has possessed it in the past. You will be alright. I feel...> The Alternian paused for a few seconds, and let his head rest on the ground. <...I feel a lot better knowing this is in your hands. _Don't be afraid_. >

I instantly felt his strength welling up inside my mind. The butterflies in my stomach stopped their fluttering. Jade and Rose ceased the hold they'd had on each other since the ship landed. Dave walked forward and crouched by the alien's side.

In his last moments, the Alternian was lending us his own scraps of courage. I felt like a fighter for the first time in my life.

A cold cackle came from the direction of the red ship.

<Now _go_. >

So we went. All but Dave. Dave stayed behind. Looking back, I saw him raise his glasses. I couldn't see the Alternian's reaction. He touched Dave's face. Dave convulsed like he'd been shocked, and then I lost sight of the pair of them as I took cover behind the decrepit wall we'd encountered earlier.

The four of us bunched together like our lives depended on skin touching skin.

"Dave," Jade whispered, gently, "what was that? What happened with-"

<So here we are, Alternian scum. It couldn't have possibly ended any other way.>

This new voice was invasive. Harsher.

I leaned toward a gap in the wall to watch what was happening.

The imposter was beautiful- deadly beautiful. Her body was all Alternian. Gray like his, long and lean. Her horns were wild and curved, and her hair was long and unkempt. He was domesticated; she was feral. Compared to the crumpled and stained beige cloak he had worn, it was obvious that she was wearing the clothing of royalty.

There were bracelets of gold and orange all over her arms. She wore a very unearthly crown- it was terrifying, spitting branches of light around her head. Perhaps on her planet she had been a queen.

The screeching, manic voice invading our minds, however, was undeniably male.

<Talk to me, Signless. Tell me what the point of all of this was. You can't honestly have thought that you would survive. No one on this planet would ever choose to help you. No one on this planet would ever even _believe_ you.>

I had to choke down the instinct to scream out in his defense as she rushed to him in a flash and grabbed him by the hair. 

<You will die. Your people are already mine. The filthy walking vermin on this rock will be used and then discarded and their planet will see the same fate. Everything you have done has been a waste. I know all about your little rebellion- the one that made you a wanted man. This disgusting bitch's mind is betraying everything. When she was still herself, still the Condesce, she had control over you and your despicable friends. She killed your kind for fun. And now she's crying like a child in the bowels of her own highblooded brain. She wants to go home.> The imposter sneered.

The thing pulled the Signless' face up to meet its own. It rubbed some of his red blood between its fingers thoughtfully.

<I have a present for you, Signless. It is honorable to die at the hands of a friend, isn't it?>

Something like hope danced across the Alternian's face.

A twisted, starved form emerged from the flesh of the Condesce's ship.

Red and blue beams bathed the entire scene in violent light.

Even over the insane laughter of the creature gripping the Signless' head, even over his own pained gasps, even over Jade's retching, we could hear our alien father's voice one last time.

<If you are in there... I forgive you.>

The wall disappeared. Something hot struck me in the eye.

The noises stopped. 

We ran.

I don't know how long it took, or how we managed it. I'm not sure how we all stayed together. I don't know if we were seen.

All I know is that we ended up panting and sobbing on the floor of Dave's apartment, babbling unintelligibly at each other and hugging.

We fell asleep.

When I looked into an unfamiliar mirror the next morning, my face was covered in dried candy red blood.   


	5. Chapter 5

"So," Dave's brother interrupted, "are you four going to be here for a while, or what?"

I'm not sure if Bro was counting Bec or Dave as our fourth.

"They're just staying for a day or two," Dave claimed. "Until we're done with our project."

"Right. Sure." Everything Bro says is laced with sarcasm. He's always cocky, but it's been kind of amplified in recent years. He's practically unbearable now.

Before that morning, I hadn't been to their apartment in months.

Bro is a DJ. He works long hours at a club (or, well, several clubs and a McDonald's), and Dave hasn't had the heart to stand up to him about his attitude. He respects him too much to point out when he's wrong. And honestly... the guy is intimidating. I can't really blame Dave for not wanting to stir things up. 

"Close the door, Dave. Let's talk about this."

Dave left his bedroom, and shut the door behind him. We could hear muffled snippets of their argument ("...breaking my shit...", "...crawling in the window at 4 in the morning...", "...only 14, Dave...") wafting in from the kitchen.

Jade and Rose were entertaining Bec, speaking in hushed voices over on the bed. I spent a while tuning out the fighting by checking out Dave's stuff.

His collection of creepy preserved dead things was even larger than I remembered it being. All of his musical gear, though, seemed to have dwindled some.

Dave is a great DJ, but I'm glad I was able to talk him into pursuing something else.

He had always been really into photography. For a while he chose not to go for it- mostly because he was more interested in impressing his brother with his attempts at music. 

Now that he'd dedicated himself to it, his entire room was covered in pinned up photos. A lot of them were of the 4 of us hanging out together. They were the most amateur. Just spontaneous, fun stuff.

The second largest batch was composed of photos of himself. Which... yeah, his talent really doesn't manage to shrine through in Myspace mirror pics.

Then there were the photos of animals.

I'm not sure what Dave's obsession with photographing them is all about. Basically anything pestlike- centipedes, ants, pigeons, possums- is fair game, dead or alive. And he's really, really good at it. I bet he could capture the character of roadkill. It's like he can see really see the worth of the smallest things. 

I guess it's alright to say this here, since I'm not planning on letting the others read this for a while... Basically, a lot of days when I hung out with Dave back then it was like he would've preferred being somewhere else. Something else. I don't know if it was about his cool-guy loner persona, or something more serious than that. It worried me, especially since he always changed the subject when we got down to talking about it.

Dave came back to his room a few minutes into my snooping. He looked like his usual unruffled self.

He plopped down on the bed next to Jade and started picking at a gash in his comforter.

"Bro called our parents... made sure they knew where we were. Your dad told him he had no idea about the 'project'," Dave said, wincing. "It's all good, though. Not like he actually cares what we do."

"That works. As long as we can stay here for a while."

"He just took some stuff and left. He said he's going to be away for... a week. Tops. I don't know what he's doing. I think it's something to do with one of his jobs." He shrugged. The topic changed. Rose started asking Dave about what went on with his brother.

Jade was talking to me, but I'd zoned out looking at one of Dave's photos.

It was a huge crow, staring straight at the camera with its head cocked to one side. Its beak was open a bit, like he'd caught it mid-caw. 

It was perched on one of Dave's hands comfortably, as if he was an old friend.

My focus came back to Jade just in time for me to catch the gist of what she had been asking.

"-believe what he said. I think we should try the animal... morphing... thing out anyway. What's the worst that could happen?"

I nodded at her and unpinned the photo. 

"Where did you find this little guy, Dave?"

 

****

 

"This is the dumbest shit I have ever done," Dave claimed, pushing a branch out of his face. "Seriously, I have no idea what you guys are expecting."

"I believe we're expecting exactly what that being last night said we should expect," Rose replied. "An alien invasion. Or are you just writing our experience off completely?"

Even with a view of nothing but his back, I could tell he was getting uncomfortable. "No. Not gonna lie, I want to pretend it didn't happen..." Rose tittered off to his side. "But you're obviously not going to let me do that, you harpy."

"Where is all this hostility coming from? It's almost like you're trying to hide something, Dave."

"Oh god, please..."

Their chat devolved into petty arguing. We pushed on through the forest. We'd left Bec at home- Jade didn't want him to be alone, but agreed after a reminder of what happened the last time he came adventuring with us. The sky was overcast, but it felt normal otherwise. No weird sense of foreboding like the night before. Just 4 kids in the woods, having a good time...

...looking for one particular crow so they could nab his DNA using alien technology. And then hopefully become him.

No big deal. 

We reached a crude clearing. Something rustled up in a tree, and Dave perked up. He pulled something out of the backpack he had slung over one shoulder ("Dude, you're two-strapping it? Lame.") and brought his hand up to his mouth.

The birdcall echoed through the clearing. 

Jade burst out laughing. "What was that? You own a... _what_..."

He stuffed it back into his backpack and snorted sheepishly. "You guys are horrible friends. Just... wow."

Our attention was brought back to the task at hand as the rustling got louder. Dave's feathered friend had found us.

It glided overhead and then flapped down in front of him, approaching hesitantly.

"I don't think he's feeling you guys being here too much. This might go better if you go stand over there."

We rushed off behind him.

"Good dogs. Now sit. Sta-"

"Dave."

"Alright, alright..." He crouched down to the ground and held a hand out to the crow. "Hey, lil fella. 'Sup?"

The crow belted out a caw.

"It's like it understands you, aw!"

"Of course he understands me, guy's my bird bro. We hang out and shit all the time, remember?" He tossed some crumbs out at it, and it got closer. "Now get in my hand so this can fail miserably and we can all go home, Jere-... please."

"Does it have a name?"

"No. I said 'please'."

"Did you name it Jeremy?"

"Jade-"

" _You named it after the crow from The Secret of NIMH_."

"You are a scoundrel and a liar-"

Jeremy hopped up into Dave's hand.

Dave waited about 5 seconds.

"See, nothing. Can we go to Subway now."

"Try focusing on it. Maybe it has to be, like... activated, or something."

"Sure. Here we go. I'm thinking of a crow. I am the crow. The crow is me-" Jeremy's angry bird face seemed to relax. "Sweet Jesus I think it's working. My hand's tingling and shit." I could tell that he was kind of in awe.

A few seconds later, the crow snapped out of his stupor and hopped off. He looked at Dave with what must've been some form of birdly suspicion, pecked up some of Dave's offering, and then flapped away.

"So, Dave. Give it a go."

He looked serious for the first time in hours. He stood up, and I caught a glimpse of him closing his eyes as he removed his sunglasses. 

Nothing happened. 

Then slowly, slowly, his mouth blackened and contorted. Something crunched, and he gasped.

His legs changed shape entirely. The girls and I were stunned into silence.

Feathers sprouted out of his face in soft tufts and then longer, sleeker black feathers.

One arm changed before the other. For a few seconds, he was a full sized human with a single complete wing.

He shrunk by a few feet. His body was entirely covered in feathers as his clothing slipped from it. The sounds were almost unbearable, even if they weren't loud. There was sliding, barely audible pops...

...and then a now familiar _CAW!_ as the final changes took place.

I could hear him genuinely laughing in thought-speak as he took off into the sky.

<Holy shit. You guys are so going to want to try this.> 


	6. Chapter 6

We spent the rest of the day gobbling up Cheetos and Crush. We watched Dave wheel lazily above us (<It's... amazing. Once you get used to it.>) and do some sloppy aerial tricks. 

Once he landed and morphed back into his normal form, we realized that he was completely naked. Jade peeked and giggled and he ducked behind a tree until Rose threw his clothing at him. 

It was nice and normal, even though it really wasn't. 

We laughed, wheezed, and collapsed on the ground, and then someone brought up the subject of what had actually happened with the Alternian.

"He was called the Signless," Rose said. "I wonder what that actually means. He was obviously some kind of outlaw."

"I don't know. Whatever he was, I feel kind of connected to him, somehow."

When we got home that night, the apartment was dark. Bec stretched out on Dave's bed with his face between his paws, eyebrows quirking up and down as we buzzed around the room and made ourselves nests of pillows and blankets on the floor.

The others fell asleep before me. When Dave finally stopped whispering to me about the day, I closed my eyes and drifted off.

Dave probably dreamed about flying that night.

I had a nightmare.

I was wading desperately through a pool of green slime. My head was bobbing above it. I'm usually a good swimmer, but in that dream it felt like it wasn't coming naturally to me. I was struggling.

I kept colliding with these things as I swam. Big, gray-green slugs... some squirming, some dead. They'd slide across my flesh- I was naked- and I'd scream and shoot my body up with as much strength as I could muster. 

When I pulled my hand out of the slime to frantically toss a slug to the side, my skin was deep, rough, Alternian gray.

I woke up scratching at my ears and gasping for breath.


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning, we woke up, raided the freezer, and nuked inexplicably precooked pancakes for breakfast.

We didn't talk about aliens. We didn't morph.

We went to school.

I know, I know. Not really what our first priority should've been, all things considered. But we had to satisfy our parents somehow. If we got caught cutting classes, it would've been the end of our extended sleepover at Dave's place.

So there I was, back in a classroom. Acting like a normal kid. Zoning out. Passing notes with Dave while the teacher's back was turned.

I saw him messing with his phone under his desk for a few seconds. He froze.

Minutes later, he beaned me with a ball of paper while the teacher was looking dead at me.

"The two of you- _out_. Right now. Go stand in the hallway."

We left the room and Dave immediately started speedwalking to our lockers.

"Dave, what the hell? If you had something to say, you could've just-"

"We're boned." He shoved his phone under my nose. I grabbed it and started reading.

It was our county's news site. Nothing unusual that I could see.

Except...

"Oh, w-wow."

A tiny article over in the corner of the page. A photo of the factory ruins accompanied it.

I read it out loud, breathlessly.

"'Vandalism at abandoned lot... Locals reported sightings of flying objects... Damage to the property... Police who arrived on the scene discovered 4 teenagers igniting illegal fireworks...' Dave, oh my god."

"Yeah, man. I know."

"Why would they..."

"Because 'they'are _them_ , John. That's why. Go on, read the last line." I hesitated, and he took the phone from me to read it. "'Police spokesmen have requested that anyone with information regarding the 4 teens responsible report to the following hotline...'"

I inhaled, and then thunked my head against his locker.

"We are so boned."

 

**~~  
~~**

After school, we all met up at the apartment to talk. Everyone had already seen the website. 

"What are we supposed to _do_?" Jade looked almost on the verge of tears. I could see how frustrated and tired she was. 

No one piped up. Rose avoided looking me in the eye. 

Dave didn't. 

"Nothing."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"We do _nothing_. We wait. Just see how this shit pans out without our help. If we hadn't been in the wrong place at the wrong time, we wouldn't even be involved."

"What good will just waiting do us? You're the only one who even got to try the morphing thing so far, Dave. How can you-"

"It's dangerous. This is dangerous."

"You told us doing it doesn't actually hurt! Why-"

"Jesus, John, you don't have a clue." 

"Maybe I would if you would tell us all what you're thinking for a change."

"Yes, Dave..." Rose shifted on the bed. "Enlighten us."

Some internal dam broke.

"When the alien touched me I- I saw things. What the Yeerks did back on his planet. What his _own_ people did. We don't want to get involved, Rose, just... let it happen." It came out in one long string, like word vomit. "They kill people daily. For fun. They torture their own children. How can we compete with that? It's not worth it. We- we're not heroes, John. We're just kids-"

"Dave. Stop."

"If anything ever happened to me I don't know what Bro would do."

"Just... tell us everything. Everything you know about them. And then we'll decide how we'll fight back..." 

Dave curled in on himself. It was a small gesture, but everyone in the room felt it. The atmosphere was suddenly even more tense. It was as if he'd somehow released all our pent up fear at once. We were finally thinking about the consequences of what we'd experienced. 

"...or if we'll just sit this one out."

He opened up a little.

"There isn't much more to know. Their species have always been violent... it's just the way they are. But there's... one thing. I don't even want to tell you, because I know how you guys are."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You all want to save everything. You can't just leave shit alone. For Christ's sake, remember that time we saw a turtle trying to cross the highway? You started a rescue operation."

"...I really don't like where this is going, Dave."

"I'll just jump right in, or else I'll never say it." He started picking at that same stupid gash in his bed. I wondered what it was from.

A fight with his brother, probably.

"The ones that are out to kill us aren't the only ones that are here. A newbie showed up the other night- a 'good' one, I guess. An Alternian, like the one we met."

"Oh my god. Maybe he can help."

"I'm pretty sure he isn't going to be helping."

"Wha... why?"

"He needs some help first."

"Dave. Where is he?"

"In the middle of the fucking ocean."


	8. ??????

_I am a failure._

_I am a miserable heap of flesh._

_I am a terrible troll._

_I am a leech. I don't deserve to be called an Alternian._

The sopor was getting to me. I slipped in and out of consciousness. It was hard to tell when I was awake and when I was asleep. The only light in the ship was flickering in some other block. It was hard to see, even with natural night vision, and breathing was becoming impossible.

Whenever I was most lucid, I blamed my stupid, stupid past-self for ever believing in anything.

When my area was evacuated and my age group was herded up, I knew something was wrong. I was complacent until they started pricking fingers (and gutting lowbloods). When I panicked and ran and everything followed, yeah, that was kind of a hint that things weren't going my way (as fucking usual).

The last of the slugs were finally dying off. Some of them were already fizzing or bubbling or shriveled.

Down there- wherever _there_ was- they weren't getting whatever they needed in order to thrive.

But neither was I, and it was taking its toll on me.

_I am a miserable excuse... for a heap of flesh... I don't deserve to be a leech... I am a failure of an Alternian..._

Trolls aren't meant to sit in a tub of sopor and Yeerks and their own fucking filth, starving and going pruny and waiting for some idiot to come to their rescue.


	9. Chapter 9

Going back home to my dad wasn't as hard as I'd pictured it would be. He didn't ask many questions. He didn't seem suspicious or anything. He just smiled and made me dinner. It was warm and tasty, even though savory stuff was never really his specialty. A home cooked meal was just what I needed, and I started to doubt everything the alien had told us earlier.

_Why should I be avoiding Dad? He's the same Dad he's always been._

I closed my bedroom door and chatted online with the others that night. They all kept asking me what we should do (each in their own side-steppy, unobtrusive way). It was totally obvious that Dave didn't really want to leave this alien (he was a kid, Dave had finally told me) to drown or be discovered by the Bad Guys.

Being discovered by the Bad Guys would be much, much worse than just dying, Rose was careful to point out.

Jade just wanted to help him, even if he wouldn't end up helping us. There was something really refreshing and innocent in that. She thought it'd be wrong to let him go without a fight. Dave seemed to see the guy as some kind of pawn.

Rose saw him as an asset to our team.

I kind of cringed at the word "team", but there it was. And it kept happening. Somehow we were a team, and I was the "leader", and _since when was this a thing_?

I suddenly felt very, very small. My bedroom was still covered in dorky childhood posters. I had stupid gawky limbs and buck teeth. I was one young kid sitting alone in his bedroom, but I was supposed to be leading these equally young equally gawky idiots in some kind of ridiculous revolution against a menacing, invisible something I couldn't even really fathom.

I fell asleep talking to Rose, right in the middle of typing a sentence.

_i have no idea what to do next_

I dreamed of being under the sea again, itchy and covered in something crusty and repulsive. I clicked and chirped and tried to clean myself. I was perched on some stupid fucking piece of debris and oh wow this alien guy is kind of angry. He bristled at the thought like he'd heard it, and YES, I DID, YOU IDIOT.

I AM SICK OF BEING HERE. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

_i have no idea_

He scrunched his face up and groaned.

HOW ABOUT THIS.

I woke up calmly, and spent a while stretched out on my bed hatching a plan I knew I hadn't laid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be probably be super long because I'm stranded due to the hurricane.


End file.
